Advertisement

11 people rescued after 'Transformers' ride stalls at Universal Studios park

By Rich Klein
Park officials said there was a power interruption that caused its "Transformers" ride to come to a stop with 11 people aboard. The outage also affected another ride. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
Park officials said there was a power interruption that caused its "Transformers" ride to come to a stop with 11 people aboard. The outage also affected another ride. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

April 8 (UPI) -- Officials at one of Hollywood's most popular theme parks say that a brief power outage stalled a ride while nearly a dozen people were on it and trapped them there for a couple hours until crews could fix the problem.

The riders became stranded on the Transformers ride after the outage occurred at Universal Studios Hollywood on Thursday afternoon.

Advertisement

Park officials said there was a power interruption from utility So Cal Edison that caused the ride to stop. The outage also affected another ride, Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.

"We experienced a brief power dip which resulted in exiting guests from some attractions," the company said, according to KABC-TV.

Firefighters were called to the park and rescued 11 people from the Transformers: The Ride 3D. No one was hurt.

The ride, which opened in 2011, is based on the Transformers film series and features a large screen that projects images of the robots from the movie.

Thursday wasn't the first time that riders at a Universal park became stranded on a ride. A dozen people became stuck on the Rip Ride Rockit roller coaster at Universal Studios Orlando in 2013 when a computer glitch stalled the ride. The riders were stuck for more than two hours, but no one was hurt.

Advertisement

Last month, a 14-year-old Missouri boy died at a different theme park in Orlando after falling out of his seat on a ride. Officials said the boy had fallen out of the "FreeFall" tower ride at Orlando's ICON park.

The 430-foot-tall tower ride raises riders up into the air, before dropping them at speeds of up to 75 mph.

Authorities are still investigating how Tyre Sampson fell out of his seat. An attorney for the boy's father said this week that the accident "was completely preventable."

Latest Headlines